Through a progressive series of exercises - accompanied by observational studies, examples and applied theory - Conversations with Form: A Workbook for Students of Architecture improves designers' understanding, dexterity and resilience in making form. It specifically focuses on the skills needed to succeed in the everyday context in which the vast majority of architects will ultimately design and build, wherein no one designs in isolation and existing conditions never represent a tabula rasa.
The text begins by familiarizing readers with utilizing step-by-step sequences of moves to steer the development of built form and rapidly moves to designs of increasing complexity. These design plays treat a wide-ranging series of topics including structures, patterns, types, systems and other kinds of shared form principles. Conversations with Form is a workbook for honing hands-on skills and tools of the architect's trade. Beautifully illustrated and focused on practical, usable information, the book provides architectural students with an accessible and useable handbook for their design practice.
About the Author: N. John Habraken is a Dutch architect and educator. He served as Founding Director of the SAR Foundation, Founding Chair of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at Eindhoven Technical University, and Professor and Head of the Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is currently Professor Emeritus. Habraken is the recipient of many awards worldwide, notably including honorary membership in the Architecture Institute of Japan. He is the author of numerous books including Supports: An Alternative to Mass Housing, The Structure of the Ordinary: Form and Control in the Built Environment, and Palladio's Children. He is also co-author of Variations: The Systematic Design of Supports.
Andrés Mignucci is a Puerto Rican architect and urbanist. He studied architecture at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and subsequently at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a Master of Architecture degree in 1982. In 1988, he founded Andrés Mignucci Arquitectos in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His work has received numerous design awards including the National Architecture Prize in 2001 and 2002 and the Henry Klumb Prize in 2012. He teaches design at the University of Puerto Rico, is the author of books including Arquitectura Contemporánea en Puerto Rico 1976-1992, and, Contexts: Parque Muñoz Rivera and the Puerto Rico Supreme Court. Mignucci is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.
Jonathan Teicher is an American designer and writer. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Bachelor and Master's degrees in Comparative Literature from Washington University. He has received awards for his architecture and urban design teaching and served as national Coordinating Director of Education at the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Teicher has practiced architecture and urban design in the US, France, Japan and Australia, winning awards for projects including a dog house in San Francisco, a Chinese cultural center in Boston and a 9-building complex on the Pennsylvania State University campus. His has previously edited three architecture books by John Habraken.
